Football
ESPN staff 5y

Weekend numbers: Lionel Messi 335, Mo Salah 50, Lewandowski 200

Manchester City's pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple is entering its final leg -- they strolled to a 1-0 win over Brighton to book a place in the FA Cup final. Joining them there are Watford, who staged a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to win their semifinal against Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 in extra time.

In the Premier League, Liverpool fought back from a goal down to beat Southampton away, and moved two points clear at the top. Meanwhile, Arsenal's quest for a top four spot hit a major stumbling block when they were beaten 1-0 at Everton.

Over in Germany, Bayern Munich decimated Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the latest edition of Der Klassiker to move to the top of the table. Goodbye, title race?

Neither Serie A nor La Liga require that question mark. Moise Kean's late winner gave Juventus a 2-1 win over AC Milan, keeping them 20 points ahead of Napoli. Meanwhile, Barcelona's 2-0 win over a gritty Atletico Madrid (reduced to ten men thirty minutes in thanks to Diego Costa's foul, foul mouth) moves them eleven solid points ahead of Diego Simeone's side.

In France, Paris Saint-Germain could have become the first team in Europe's top 5 leagues to officially lift their league title, but Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting had other ideas. 

Here are the best stats from the weekend:


335

Another day, another Lionel Messi record - now, no player has more wins in La Liga history than his 335. Iker Casillas, formerly of Real Madrid (of course) is second with 334.

53

One more fun Messi-stat. The Argentine and his chief partner-in-crime, Luis Suarez, have scored more La Liga goals this season than 18 of the 19 other teams in the league. Only Real Madrid have more, with 55.

Barcelona have scored 81 as a team, in case you were wondering.

0

Barca are one of only three teams that Diego Simeone has never defeated as manager of Atletico Madrid in La Liga (14 games). The other two are Mallorca (three) and Racing Santander (one).

2

Pep Guardiola has become the first manager to reach both major domestic English cup finals in the same season, since Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool) in 2011-12.

Also 2 - Watford have qualified for the FA Cup final for just the second time in their history, having last done so in 1984.

1

As good as Everton were, Arsenal were equally poor. In fact, they attempted just one shot in the first half. This is their fewest in the first half of a PL game since May 2016 vs Man City (also one)

10

Penalty, Crystal Palace. Goal, Luka Milivojevic. How many times have we heard that this season? Ten, actually. Only Andy Johnson (11 in 2004-05) has scored more in a single PL campaign.

16

Liverpool have won 16 points from losing positions in the Premier League, the most of any side this season.

50

A big positive from the win was Mohammed Salah finding his way back on to the scoresheet (with a belter to boot). The Egyptian has now scored 50 goals in just 69 matches for Liverpool in the league. Only Alan Shearer (66 - Blackburn) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (68 - Manchester United) have reached the milestone in fewer appearances for a single club in the PL era. 

200

As Bayern ripped Dortmund apart, Robert Lewandowski reached the 200 Bundesliga goals milestone. This came in his 284th appearance in the competition; only Gerd Müller has reached that milestone in fewer appearances (234). The Pole is now the competition's fifth highest scorer of all time, with 201.

4

A fantastic old record has been equalled in Serie A. Atalanta became the first team to score at least 4 goals in the first 15 minutes of play in a Serie A match, since Juventus vs Roma in... March 1932! 87 full years ago! They beat Bologna 4-1 on Friday... and then drew 0-0 with Inter Milan on Sunday.

23

Since his first headed goal in Serie A in 2015, Leonardo Pavoletti has scored 23 headers - which is more than any other player among the top-5 European Leagues in this period. Pavoletti's latest effort was a winner for Cagliari against SPAL.

100

Ajax are the only team in Europe's top seven divisions to have scored 100 league goals so far this season. They beat Willem II 4-1 to remain ahead of PSV Eindhoven -- on goal difference (74 vs 65)

Quirky stat of the weekend - 5000!

Shane Long's strike was the 5000th English top-flight goal Liverpool have ever conceded, coming almost 125 years after Coombe Hall netted the first ever goal against the Reds for Blackburn, back in September 1894. One hundred and twenty five years ago!

(Statistics courtesy ESPN Stats & Information)

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